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National fraternal values group honors RU chapter

Radford University's Tau Chapter of the Fraternal Values Society (FVS) has been honored with the inaugural Michael A. McRee Fraternal Values Award, which acknowledges excellence in central fraternal values such as community, charity, responsibility and accountability.

"It is the hope of every member of the Fraternal Values Society at RU that this honor will symbolize the progress the entire Greek Community has made in the past couple years to realign itself more closely with the values and traditions the founders of our individual organizations intended all of us to learn and to live by," said Robert Marias, assistant director of student activities Greek Life and Tau Chapter advisor and honorary alumni member.

Since its founding in 2011, the Tau Chapter has engaged proactively in supporting the conversation about fraternal and sororal values on Radford's campus, Marias said.

The Tau Chapter's founding members were 18 student representatives of fraternities and sororities across campus. RU President Penelope W. Kyle (Kappa Alpha Theta), Vice President for Student Affairs Mark Shanley (Delta Tau Delta), Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Ken Bonk (Theta Chi) and Marias (Sigma Nu) were initiated as honorary members. Over the past two semesters, the chapter has added 13 members.

RU sorority and fraternity members and Tau Chapter advisor Robert Marias, holding the award, pose for a photo at the Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values Central Conference in Indianapolis earlier this month.

Tau Chapter has been striving to open a dialogue with the university community about what Greek Life is all about, Marias said, with programs like the Greek 101 seminar series.

Launched nationally in fall 2010, FVS works to create, develop and support the most trusted values shared by its member fraternal organizations. Its goal is to promote the collective founding values of fraternities and sororities, develop greater understanding among all social fraternal organizations and educate the community. The society strives to fulfill this mission by:

sponsoring educational programs.

creating opportunities for values-based dialogue.

increasing personal reflection about fraternal values.

empowering individuals to live their lives according to the fraternal rituals.

providing assistance to individuals and organizations that struggle to reach expected standards.

publicly recognizing individuals and organization that exceed those standards.

The Michael A. McRee Fraternal Values Awards affirms RU's commitment to cultivating a Greek Life community that encourages conversation and empowerment.

"We hope this will be the beginning of the greater things to come for the RU Greek community and for Radford University as a whole," Marias said.